Dinosaurs, String Instruments and Dr. Seuss

The paper mache dinosaur eggs that we made last week were ready for their finishing touch. The children painted their eggs with bright shades of glitter water color. They carefully held the tie of the balloon with two fingers while painting with the other hand.

 

During last week's Exploring the children made predictions about what might happen if we placed a small, squishy Dimetredon in water. The children had lots of ideas such as the dinosaur might turn red, it might suck up the water or it might get bigger. We used a pasta "ziti" as our unit of measure before placing it in the tub of water. It measured 4 "zitis" long. The boys and girls have been observing the dinosaur daily in the Exploratorium. After observing the dinosaur continuing to get bigger we talked about why that might be. It is ABSORPTION! This week we measured the Dimetredon and it was 8 "zitis"long.

Tempera cake paints were used to paint the children's original dinosaur, bearing their own name....a NAMOSAURUS!

Next the children cut around their dinosaurs on the outside of the black line.

Using their name cards the boys and girls counted the number of letters in their name. Then they counted out the corresponding number of diamond shapes. Next the children wrote each letter of their name on the diamonds and gave their dinosaur some spikes by gluing them on!

 

Identifying herbivores and carnivores and discovering baby dinosaurs inside of little eggs have been popular activities in the Exploratorium.

 Fine motor skills as well as developing strength and coordination of their hands was used as the children opened and closed the eggs.

The children always enjoy solving dinosaur puzzles as they observe the environment of the dinosaurs while at work.

The children couldn't wait for their turn as they observed other friends being traced! Even more fun was observing the finished product. These will be used for a super fun activity at the Spring Break Party on Friday!

After finding "dinosaur nests" of dried grass and fossils on the playground this week we decided to create our own dinosaur environment on the bulletin board. First we made a sketch of what a we wanted it to look like. Then we collected leaves, dirt, sand and small rocks. We painted butcher paper with a glue and water mixture so that we could add our treasures.

Then dirt, sand a "wild rice" were sprinkled on to the sticky surface to create the ground.

Next beans were added to represent rocks, dinosaur eggs and possibly the beginning of caves!

Sponge painting and finger painting with turquoise, blue and purple paints created a beautiful sky!

When Mrs. Gootson came to read to the children this week she was greeted with a BIG group hug!

Guess what? March 2nd was the birthday of the popular author, Dr. Seuss! The children met "The Cat in the Hat" during the Exploring assembly as Mrs. Samuel demonstrated how the children would make their own Dr. Seuss hats.

In the "music room" with Mrs. McIvor the boys and girls were able to play the zither, the auto harp, the violin and the guitar.

 

First Mrs. Samuel formed a hat on the children's heads with newspaper. The children pulled and cut their tape. The tape was wrapped around the hat to secure it. Then the children rolled the sides to form the brim of their hats.

The children were able to select from a choice of dinosaur feet to stomp and make dinosaur footprints while singing, "We Are the Dinosaurs!"

Carnivore, Herbivore or Omnivore... which are you??? was the question the boys and girls had to answer before eating their snack. Herbivores had broccoli for plants, Carnivores had pasta pieces for bones and Omnivores ate both!

Books read this week:
"Bones, Bones, Dinosaur Bones" by Byron Barton
"Dinosaur Babies" by Lucille Penner
"Ten Terrible Dinosaurs" by Paul Strickland

Upcoming Dates:
3/9  Spring Break Party/Exploring Schedule
3/12-3/16  Spring Break